A Belgian C-130 military transport plane lands on March 15, 2012 at the Sion airport. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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A Norwegian military transport plane with five people on board went missing today during an exercise and was feared to have crashed in northern Sweden, officials said. The C-130 was heading from Evenes in northern Norway to the Swedish city of Kiruna where it was supposed to pick up personnel. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane when it was about 50 miles west of Kiruna, a Norwegian military spokesman said.

"We have to assume that we are looking for a plane that has crashed," he told the AP, adding that at least four of the five people on board were Norwegians. The plane went missing during a winter exercise called Cold Response, with 16,000 soldiers from 14 countries taking part. The purpose of the Norwegian-led exercise "is to rehearse high intensity operations in winter conditions within NATO with a UN mandate," the country's military said.